Broken Pieces
by Lynnlee22
Summary: One shot series for Philly these are unrelated one shots that do not fit within the confines of my current Philly fics. They are intended to be little moments that could potentially contribute to the rebuilding of this amazing pair.
1. Chapter 1

It had only taken a split second for his perfect haven to be ruined. The Distillery was a fairly new establishment and its location on the outskirts of town had kept it free of most of the usual Genoa City crowd. After a long work week, he had been able to come here, grab the large corner booth and just relax. He'd drink for hours – until he didn't have to think about anything … not about the love he'd lost, not about the dreams he'd shattered, not about the company he no longer ran, and certainly not the woman that was at the center of all three. He drank far more than he should, but it was his only vice. He wasn't gambling. He wasn't letting the drinking affect his work. It was his agreement with himself – his carrot on the stick. It was the way he made it through, the way he got through each day. He knew that at the end of the grueling week, he would get to sit here and drink and listen to the mutterings of nothing and everything all at once. He'd listen and close his eyes until it all blurred together, until his bones felt pliable, until his mind felt fuzzy.

The first thing he'd done when he'd chosen this place had been to chose his spot – the large corner booth that was meant for a far larger group than one, but Cassie didn't mind. He spent plenty on his bar tab and lofty tip to make up for her lost covers. Their agreement had always been that she would keep his keys and call his cab at the end of each carefully orchestrated bender. It had been all been going so well … until tonight … when it all went to hell in a split second. The cool breeze hit his neck, a clear indication that the door behind him had opened.

He enjoyed this part – the watching. He liked watching the new arrivals make their way to the bar. There was something incredibly telling about watching someone approach a crowded bar top. Did they hang back and wait to see if someone offered them a seat? Did they step up immediately and claim their place? Did they slink off to a corner table and try to blend in to the background? Did they skip the bar altogether and move towards the groups of dancers on the other side of the room?

He watched and waited and then he saw them … She'd changed from their earlier meeting where she'd been wearing the black and white striped dress he remembered so well. This dress was different. It was one he'd never seen before. It, like so many other things, was something she hadn't shared with him. Her hair was down and loosely curled. Billy found his jaw clenching as she ran her fingers through it while the nameless man beside her hung her coat on the hook by the wall.

Part of him wanted to get up and leave, walk away before things got even worse. The other part of him knew he never could and never ever would.

* * *

"Four." The bottle hit the table harder than he intended. He looked down, almost surprised to see the glass hadn't broken under the pressure of his grip.

"What's the matter?" Cass eyed him warily as she stepped over to the booth. She glanced down that almost empty bottle of beer. "You ready for another?"

"Maybe later," he muttered, his eyes still focused on the bar. "I need to try and keep my head right now."

Cass turned towards the bar, looking for the source of his interest. "You know those two?" she asked as she followed his laser-like glare.

"You could say that," he sighed. "That's her," he mumbled.

"Oh." Her eyes widened. She looked around the bar for a moment. Most of her customers seemed to be placated. Her eyes were steady on his as she slid into the other side of the booth. "She's with him …"

"Him?" His voice was sharp. "What about him? Who is he? I haven't seen him in here before."

"Oh he's a regular, but he's not usually the weekend crowd. The girls and I all call him The Suit. He's a hedge fund manager and he's here on most weeknights … always with a different woman. He woos them, wows them, and walks out with them. That's his pattern."

"And what happens when they don't want to be wooed?" Billy leaned slightly forward, watching as Phyllis put a little distance between them.

Cass smiled. "You think she's not interested?"

"Well he's tried sliding his hand down her back five times now and she keeps shifting away from him. The asshole's persistent, I'll give him that."

She shrugged. "I don't know. Honestly, I've never seen any woman that didn't end up leaving with him. If she turns him down, she'll be there first." Cass stood up and pulled down her apron before waving to a table in the corner. "You sure I can't you another?" She smiled down at the sweating bottle on the table.

"Not right now," he sighed. "But I'll let you know." He watched as she nodded and quickly headed towards the table in the back. His eyes quickly returned the bar where The Suit had finally managed to snake his arm around her. He shouldn't care what she did. He was the one that had told her they were over. He was the one that had thrown her out of the house and out of his life. But try as he might, she'd never be out of his thoughts.

* * *

"Business meeting, huh?"

She felt the breath catch in her throat as she heard the familiar voice. She looked at the man beside her first, the one whose hand was creeping far too high up her thigh, before she turned back to face him. "Billy?" she managed before straightening and, yet again, sliding a bit to her left. "What are you doing here?"

"I think that's a question you should be answering. You said you couldn't do dinner tonight because you had a business meeting. This doesn't look like business to me … at least not the kind of business a wife should be doing with a man that's not her husband."

"Who is this guy?" The Suit stood up and smoothed his obnoxiously expensive jacket down in front of him.

"He's uh …" Phyllis paused. Dating had never really been her thing. She'd always been the type that had believed you met people when you were supposed to, if you were supposed to. Chemistry was kismet, not something you were supposed to orchestrate with apps or set ups or blind dates, but that was a lot easier to believe when you were young and full of promise. When you were working 80 hour weeks and desperately in need of a simple easy way to blow off steam, the prospect of a quick hook up suddenly became much more appealing. Or at least it did in theory.

When Greg Kingston had stayed after the business expo to introduce himself to 'Jabot's newest power player', she'd initially found him off putting. It wasn't his arrogance that bothered her – she had a bit of that herself, it was his automatic assumption that she'd be interested in him. She didn't want to give him that satisfaction and yet, when he'd suggested a Friday night drink, it had sounded so relaxing that she'd been unable to quickly come up with a good excuse. And now here she was, drinking and being pawed by a man she didn't much like while being interrogated by a man she couldn't help but still love.

It was obvious she was stymied and her discomfort almost made him smile … almost. "I'm her husband," Billy said quickly.

Her shocked expression brought an immediate smirk that he only barely camouflaged by a quick drink from his bottle of beer.

"You're married?" Greg looked at her, surprised. "You didn't mention that when we talked earlier."

"I'm um …" She glared at Billy who looked back at her completely unphased. "We're separated. I … He …"

"We're trying to work things out or at least I was. I'm not sure what the hell you're doing. I guess you're playing our your options here. So tell me, who is my competition?"

"I'm not into this."

Billy watched as The Suit raised his hand to signal the bar tab.

"The last thing I need is some kind of domestic disturbance hitting the papers. When you actually cut this loser free, give me a call." He took a step closer to her and leaned in. "I'd really like to see more of you."

"And I really think you need to get the hell out of here." The once light, almost playful tone in his voice was gone now. She could feel his presence as he stepped closer, his body now looming over the both of them. She held her breath as she watched the two men.

Greg stared at him. "I'll never understand what get some people together." He took one more look at Phyllis, his eyes roaming all over her body before stepping away and heading out the door.

The cool breeze as the door opened did little to cool the rage that welled within him this time and he paused only to glance back at her before heading back towards his corner booth. He could hear the quick raps of her footsteps behind him.

"You wanna tell me what the hell that was about?" She flung herself into the booth as she looked at him.

She was frazzled and frustrated, completely caught off guard and utterly annoyed. He loved it. He loved her. He couldn't help it. This was what they did. They fought. They made up. This was who they were. "In some circles," he smirked, "what I just did would be considered a favor."

Her body jerked back in response to his glaring arrogance. "You're serious? A favor? I can't … You know, in other circles, it would be considered insinuating yourself in your boss's personal life."

"Well I guess it's important that we establish which circle we're talking about isn't it? Are we in the same circle?" He smiled, watching her eyes narrow at him. The silence seemed to sober both of them for a moment and he finally added. "We used to be."

"We used to do a lot of things," Phyllis said quickly. "We used to be there for each other. We used to understand each other. We used to put each other first. And now …" She shook her head, the conversation turning far too serious, far too fast. "So what are you doing here anyway? Since when do you come to bars alone? I never thought Billy Abbott would have trouble finding a date."

"I'm alone by choice." He relaxed a bit as he let his back lean against the plush leather of the booth. There were things they needed to discuss of course, but the easy banter was far preferable than angry words. If they could sit and talk like this, maybe it could build to something else, anything else. He'd take the crumbs if they meant he could sit with her, watch her smile, hear her voice … "You know me, I like to scout before I hunt."

She chucked. "Like a wildebeest …" Her fingers twirled the torn bits of napkin he'd been picking at all evening. "So is that how you came across my little experiment? Your scouting?"

"Is that what this was? An experiment? It kind of looked more like a nightmare to me."

"Greg is uh …"

"An ass that can't keep his hands to himself," he finished her sentence as he looked up from the table. "I mean, if you liked him, I guess I'm sorry for interrupting, but I'm …"

"He was a little handsy I guess, but as I recall you might have a little issue with that as well." Her eyes sparkled a bit as she let her lips curl ever so slightly.

He felt the jolt of his heart racing in his chest. It was the first time in so long that she'd looked at him like that. When he'd told her about Summer, about what he'd done to make her pay, she'd looked at him with such disgust and such complete disappointment that he wasn't sure she'd ever be able to regard him as a human being again. And then, it had changed. He'd expected it to be better, her anger and disgust having waned, but somehow the way she now regarded him as an employee and nothing more made it even worse. She looked at him as if he were a stranger, as if there had never been anything between them at all. All the love and light that had once been in her eyes was gone … until now.

"Well, you never minded with me … or at least I don't think you did." He watched as the smile on her face grew.

"No," she whispered. "I didn't."

He was afraid to speak again, afraid to say anything that might frighten the smile he'd missed so much away and yet somehow the silence did that anyway. "So," he finally spoke, "what was his deal anyway?"

She shrugged. "Just some guy I met at the expo last week. He invited me for a drink and I decided to take him up on it. I just wanted to get out a bit you know … get my mind of things …" She let her eyes settle on his. She couldn't help but wonder why he was here, if his reasons were similar to hers, if he too was trying to push thoughts from his mind.

"Yeah," he whispered. "I know."

"Well," Cass smiled at him as she stepped up to the table. "Can I get you that beer now?" She looked over towards Phyllis. "And what about you? Can I get you anything? I'm sure he's buying." She turned her attention back to Billy. "I have to say, I'm sorry for doubting you. I guess The Suit can't compete with true love."

"I'll take that beer," he said quickly, "And a … a vodka cranberry for her."

The questions were evident on her face. "True love, huh? What kind of story have you been selling her?"

"It's not a story, Phyllis. She wanted to know why I came here every week, what had me so messed up that I just sank myself into the booth and drank myself into a stupor. She wanted to know why she had to call me a cab every night, why I was so determined to drink myself into in a black hole of nothingness. She wanted to know and I told her. I told her that I had lost everything that ever mattered to me. I lost the woman I love. I lost the respect of my family. I lost my job. And worst of all, I set it all in motion. Sure we both made mistakes, but the final death blow, that was all me. I came here to escape, to forget, to get away, to get my mind off things as you put it."

"And tonight?"

"She could tell something was wrong when I saw you come in and I told her it was you. I told her you were the one that had brought me here. I told her you were the one I'd lost, the one I was here trying to forget, the one I couldn't … no matter how hard I tried. I came here to forget about you and then you came walking in."

"I didn't know you'd be here. I was just trying to have an evening out so that I wouldn't spend the night …" She stopped herself. "Maybe I should go."

He reached for her arm as she moved to slide from the booth. "Please don't." Her face softened as she stopped let her body relax again. "I'm not asking you to forgive me tonight. I'm just asking to sit here … just sit here and talk, have a drink … maybe smile a few times."

"I can sit and talk and the drink I can definitely do, but the smiles …. You're pushing it." She managed to keep the serious expression just long enough to watch his eyes flash the wary look she loved. "But I like to be challenged … you know that."

"Here you go." Cass returned to the table and placed their drinks in front of them. "Your beer."

"Sorry I ordered for you," Billy interrupted, suddenly realizing he hadn't given her the chance to order for herself. "If you want something else, please …" He gestured towards Cass. "Get her anything she wants."

Phyllis shook her head as she gestured to the fresh napkin in front of her.

"And a fresh vodka cranberry for you," Cass smiled. She flashed a knowing grin at both of them before walking away.

"You always did know what I want," she grinned.

He ran his hand across the back of his neck sheepishly. "I guess … most of the time. But there's one thing I don't know … I don't know if you still want me, or even if you ever could, if you think you ever could again."

She was quiet for a moment, so quiet that he was afraid he'd overstepped, afraid that the chance he'd taken in that moment was so brazen that he'd lost the opportunity to spend this night with her. And then he heard the sound of her voice yet again.

"I know that without you my entire world feels dull. It's like everything used to be vibrant and colorful and now it's just these shades of gray. I know that you hurt me in a way I hadn't been hurt in a long long time, but you also made me happier, made me feel more joy, made me angrier … You made me feel stronger, more hopeful, more stable than I ever have. You brought a sense of excitement and passion and fun into my life that I thought had long since gone and I miss that. So I guess I have to decide if the crazy highs are worth the possibility of some crazy lows, because you can't promise me there won't be any."

With everything in him, he wanted to make her that promise. He wanted to tell her that he would never hurt her again, but she wouldn't or couldn't believe him now. "I know you can't believe me if I promise I won't hurt you again and I get that. I understand that. I've done horrible things that you have every right to hate me for, but you don't. You don't hate me. I can see that in your eyes."

"I could never hate you." Her voice cracked as she said the words.

"So the only promise I need you to believe is this one…" He reached out to take her hands as they flat on the table in front of her. "Believe me when I say I'll always love you. I'll make stupid mistakes. I'll say stupid things, but don't ever – not for one second, don't ever doubt that I love you." He leaned closer to her. "I love you and I always will. If you can believe that, the rest is a goal I can work towards."

"That's a hell of an uphill climb." The lump in her throat made it difficult to speak. She could see the sheen in his dark eyes, the low rumble in his voice proving the depth of his emotion. "Love isn't always enough, Billy. We both know that. We've seen it."

"And we've seen us. We know us. And I know that if you're what I'm working towards, there's no amount of work too daunting. You're the best motivator in the world. I do anything for you." He stopped to look at her, trying to gauge her reaction. "So tell me boss, how's my pitch going?"

"Well." She took a breath and crossed her arms over her chest. "You've got a few really good things going for you. You're a hell of a charmer, Billy Abbott. You're innovative. You're smart and the fact that you're pretty damn handsome doesn't hurt. But probably your biggest advantage here … the thing that really sets up apart from the others like Greg and that gaggle of slightly inebriated businessmen over there is this … "

She stood up, slowly slinking over towards his slide of the booth and letting her body slide in beside him. "I just can't seem to stop loving you."


	2. Chapter 2

_**Breathe**_

He pressed the button over and over as he angrily shifted his weight from foot to foot. The elevator seemed to be excruciatingly slow tonight as it climbed the floor, the wait only giving his anger and frustration more time to grow. He was angry at a lot of things … at the situation for being completely and totally messed up, at her for being so damn stubborn and condescending and arrogant, and at himself for not being smart enough to see all this coming.

When she told them all she was keeping Jabotiques, he'd been so surprised that he hadn't thought it through, hadn't been prepared for the obvious. He'd been so certain she would kill them completely as the first wave of her revenge, but she was smarter than that, more cunning, and he should have expected that much, especially from someone as seasoned at plotting as Phyllis. Instead, he'd let his guard down in relief, believing that she had seen the genius in the idea, hoping she was actually going to allow his brainchild to flourish. And now this. Sure, the Jabotiques were still in existence, but they would be nothing like the ones he designed. Any success they had would be attributed to her. No one would even remember he had been involved.

His fist were clenched as the elevators door finally opened and he jumped through the opening as soon as his slender body would fit. Her office door was closed and locked, the blinds drawn closed across the large window.

"Phyllis?" he bellowed as he slammed his fist onto the door. "I know you're here. I saw your car in the parking lot. You might as well open the door. I'm not leaving here until we talk." He looked down at the papers in his hand, the company wide memo that detailed all the new plans for the chain of stores that now looked completely foreign to him. "I got your memo." The disdain dripped from his voice. "That's how you're gonna do this now? All passive aggressive? You can't look me in the eye and tell me how you're gonna screw me?" He paused at the potential double entendre, but didn't bother to correct it. There was no danger of her misunderstanding. They were far past that.

"Phyllis?!" he yelled again. He stepped back and glanced down at the watch on his wrist. It was late, but he knew she was there. She had to be somewhere. The parking lot was a virtual ghost town. There were no people there to be meeting with. Where else would be she be? His eyes widened in realization as he turned quickly and headed back towards the elevator.

* * *

He couldn't help but smile at the small victory as he saw the light beaming from the Jabot lab. Phyllis had never been the type to leave success to other people. She had to be in on everything even if she wasn't the expert in the field. It had been quite the coo to secure Kerry and, in all honestly, the hire had probably been the very thing that secured her CEO position, but Phyllis being Phyllis still couldn't completely trust her to do the job.

Phyllis had been pressuring them all to get new products ready for the store launches. It was a classic Phyllis move to come up here and check on the progress. He pushed the door open, his eyes quickly scanning the room bathed in fluorescent light.

Nothing.

"Phyllis?" He called her name softer this time, the stark surroundings of the room making his voice echo back at him. Her absence here confused him. He'd been so certain this would be the answer. It fit. She should be here, butting in, checking up. It was her pattern. It was her …. He stilled, his heart pounding harder as his entire body seemed to turn to stone.

His knees hit the tile floor before he allowed himself to breathe. His voice was hoarse as he called her name, the fear and shock chocking him now. "Oh God, Phyllis …"

She lay perfectly still, her eyes closed. Her arms and legs lay out around her in a way that almost seemed natural, but her complete lack of response proved it was anything but.

"Phyllis," he called her name again as his face touched her hair, her face, her neck. He could see nothing wrong. His hand reached around the back of her head, no bump, no blood. There were no bruises or broken glass. Nothing seemed to indicate that she'd fallen. Had she fainted? Was she sick? He didn't know. There were too many questions … too many unknowns. "Phyllis, please …" He slapped her face gently as he softly gripped her shoulders and shook her. "Answer me … come on … answer."

Nothing.

He stood up, pulling the phone from his jacket and lifting his finger to dial. His eyes fell on the counter in front of him. He'd never been a lab rat. Even during his time at Brash and Sassy, he'd left all the technical stuff to the people that knew what they were doing, but he did know one thing. The nozzles should always be off. Always. His eyes fell on the one in the middle. The one that was different. He looked back down at her, the severity of the situation suddenly hitting home.

She was in his arms in seconds as he raced through the door. He could only pray he wasn't too late.

* * *

He spoke to her in broken sentences as much as he could as he ran at full speed down the stairs with her in his arms. "You're okay … gonna be okay …" "Phyllis …" His feet slammed across the asphalt as he rushed towards the grass quickly put her down. His hands were trembling as he called the ambulance, his words barely able to be discern as he tried to explain the events that even he didn't completely understand.

The phone fell from his fingertips as he ended the call and he quickly returned to her side. She remained completely still. The operator had asked him if she was breathing and he'd leaned over her, his face so close to hers that he could feel the softness of her lips on his cheek. He'd felt a wave of relief when he'd felt the ever so slight rush of warmth leave her lips and he'd been able to say that yes, she was … but barely.

"Come on," he pleaded as he cupped her face in his hands. "I know you're stronger than this. You know there's plenty you want to yell at me for. You've got a golden opportunity right now. I'm right here, just waiting on you to chew me out. Right now, I'd love it. I'd love to hear you yell at me. I'd love to hear you say anything. Please, Phyllis. Just open your eyes. Open your eyes and yell at me."

This wasn't supposed to happen. She wasn't supposed to be here like this. She wasn't the silent type. She was loud and crazy and full of life. She was the one that kept him on his toes, the one that made him feel like he was on the edge of losing everything and winning the biggest contest in the world … all at the same time. He needed her, craved her, hated her, loved her, was terrified by her, and understood her in a way that no one else every had or would.

He sat down beside her, pulling her body up against his. Her back slumped and he pulled her up against his chest. "I'm not giving up on you … You hear me? You're not giving up. That's not your game. You never give up. So I just need you to listen to me and take some deep breaths. You can do it." He shifted her body, desperately trying to circulate the fresh air through her, even if she couldn't or wouldn't.

This was maddening. Never in his life could he remember feeling so helpless except once … when he lost his daughter. He couldn't go through that again. He couldn't lose another person he loved that much. He wouldn't let it happen. "Damnit, Phyllis!" The words echoed through the night air as he screamed at the top of his lungs. "You don't get to check out on me like this! You don't get to do this! You open your eyes! You hear me! You open your damn eyes!"

Nothing.

All the rage and anger he'd mustered suddenly vanished and the hopelessness took over. His shoulders slumped as he wrapped his arms around her and pressed his lips to her forehead. "I'm sorry," he whispered, gently rocking her back and forth. "I'm so so sorry."

For a moment, he thought he'd imagined it, but as he looked down at her face he could see the slight quiver of her lips.

His own voice shook as he called her name. "Phyllis? Can you hear me?"

Her lips moved again as if she was trying to speak.

He shook his head as he touched her face, desperate to hold on to the small shred of hope he was being offered. "Just breathe," he whispered. "Take a big deep breath for me."

The deep exhalation of relief had never felt so good as he watched her chest rise and fall. "That's good," he smiled as he ran his hand across her face. "That's my girl."

Her eyes fluttered open slowly as she drew in another slow breath. "Bi …" The word seemed to disappear as it left her lips.

"Shhh. Don't try to talk." He shifted behind her, allowing her to rest against him as he kept his arms still wrapped around her. "You just breathe okay. You're gonna be fine. You're gonna be just fine."

* * *

"And you're sure she's going to be okay?" He stopped himself as he saw the nurse's terse smile, a sure sign that her compassion was turning to annoyance.

"Mr. Abbott," she sighed, "Like I've told you many times, Ms. Summers appears to be just fine. Obviously, we can't be 100% certain of anything as the residual impacts of this type of poisoning are difficult to predict, but based on everything we know now, she's perfectly fine."

"Thank you," he breathed. "I'm sorry I keep asking. I just …"

"It's okay." The compassionate smile returned. "It's sweet to see someone so concerned. I hope Ms. Summers knows how lucky she is to have a man that loves her so much. You can go in now. " She patted his shoulder as she walked away.

He entered the room slowly, her eyes opening as soon as she heard the noise. "Billy?" she whispered, her voice much stronger this time.

"Yeah," he smiled as he pulled the small stool up beside the bed. "How are you feeling? You look better."

"Better," she assured him. The silence settled over the room for a moment, awkwardness rearing its head. "I'm gonna fire that lab tech," she muttered with a nervous laugh.

"Yeah." He laughed then too, the comment breaking the tension. "You really should." It felt good to smile with her and laugh, but he couldn't shake the seriousness of what happened, of what could of happened, of what he could have lost. "Seriously though, they've got to be more careful. I mean … you could have …"

"I know. I could have …"

He shook his head. It was one thing to think it. It was another to hear the words come from her mouth. "It didn't happen. You don't have to think about that now." He touched her arm gently. "Do you remember anything about what happened?"

"I went up to the lab to see some samples. Kerry told me she had left a few of the new fragrances up there and that, if I wanted, I could go check them out. I went to see them and … I don't know. The next thing I remember was hearing someone tell me to breathe. I guess that was you."

He nodded. "I came to look for you to talk about the memo you sent about Jabotiques and you weren't in your office, so I was trying to find you and I figured maybe you were in the lab. When I got there, I didn't see you anywhere and I was just about to leave when I saw the heel of your shoe. You were completely out of it and I tried to wake you up, but you couldn't. When I stood up to call 911, I saw the nozzle and I knew I had to get you out of there."

"I could have died." Her voice was almost a whisper as she looked up at him. "I mean really … if you hadn't been there, Billy … I …"

"I was there." He couldn't think about it, the possibility of losing her was too horrible. He had come too close. "And you're just fine. You're here and the nurse said you're gonna be fine."

"Fine might be a bit of an overstatement." There was a hint of sadness in her voice as she spoke and her eyes raised up to meet his before she spoke again. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure." He could sit here forever and just stare at her. In those moments when he'd been forced to consider the real possibility of losing her, the moments that felt like an eternity when he was in them, he'd realized just how much she was a part of him.

"Why are you here? I mean, I know you helped me. I know you weren't gonna leave me there to die, but now … why are you here now?"

"You said if I hadn't found you, you don't know what would have happened, but I do …" He could see the flicker of hope in her eyes. She'd been waiting for him to return and now his stubborn arrogance had finally given way. "If I'd lost you, If you were gone … my life would have been over too."

Pride was a funny thing. It seemed completely reasonable to try to hold onto every ounce self respect when you were staring the person capable of bringing you to your knees in the eyes. You could be petty and juvenile and stubborn when they were in front of you to argue with. It all made sense then. But somehow, when they were in your arms, limp and lifeless, silent and motionless – when you faced with the reality of your life without them in it, pride and self respect, being right and winning the argument just didn't seem so important any more.

Being happy seemed a hell of a lot more important.


	3. Chapter 3 After Hours

Phyllis closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath before closing the file in front of her. "Why am I just hearing about this now?" She stood up slowly, barely able to contain her rage as she walked around the desk stood in front of him. "You had to know about this. How long have you known about this problem?"

Billy sighed. "Look, it isn't as bad as all that. I didn't know the suppliers were completely out of product. They just said there was a shortage and I knew you said that we were going to sourcing all kind of rare products from other companies anyway, so I really didn't see where it would be that big of an impact, you know? I wasn't that worried about it."

"They don't pay you to worry, Billy. Not anymore. That's my job. I'm the CEO. I'm supposed to know what's going on in every department in every situation, all the time. It's your job to keep me updated. I put you and Kyle in charge of marketing and development so that you'd promote the products not so you could decide what was important enough to pass on to me."

"I can fix this, alright? I'll make some calls. There are other suppliers that can provide us product. It's not like we're dealing with a finite number of companies here."

"You just don't get it do you?" She gripped the edge of the desk until her fingers ached. Sometimes his arrogance infuriated her. "You aren't making the decisions anymore, Billy. You get to decide which suppliers we use or which products we feature. I make that call and I'd made it. If there were going to be changes, I should have been notified. You had no right to keep information this important to yourself unless you were trying to …"

She stopped her face suddenly changing. "That's it, isn't it? You were trying to sabotage me. You're trying to prove to everyone that I'm not capable of doing this job. You're trying to oust me just like you said you would. Damnit, Billy. I swear, I'll …"

"I'm not doing that. Look, I know you're angry and I know you think I had some master plan to use this to somehow undermine your grand design, but it wasn't like that … not even close. And to prove it, I'll stay here all night until I get this fixed. I'll make sure that we are able to fill the shelves with products just like you promised all our customers we would. I won't leave this office until I have everything right back on track."

He could see the look of disbelief on her face. "I'm serious, Phyllis. I mean it. You go. Go on home and when you get back here in the morning, I'll have everything all worked out."

"The hell I will," she spat. "If you're staying here, I'm staying too."

* * *

"Alright, we're gonna have to change the marketing campaigns if we're gonna change the product lines we're offering. Do you know where Kyle's mock ups of the campaigns are?" She looked across the room at Billy who tapped furiously away at his laptop.

"Yeah, I do. It's all here. I can e-mail it to you."

"No. Don't bother. Just pull it up on your computer. Let's look over it together." She stood up and grabbed her notebook and a pen and quickly crossed the room. Sitting next to him had never felt quite so weighted before and she could feel his eyes heavy on hers as she forced herself to focus on the images on the screen.

"Okay." Her voice sounded stressed and breathy and he was hard pressed to keep from smiling at the slight flushing of her cheeks as she leaned a bit closer to the table in front of them. "If we just take out these two here and we add in the company logo over here, I think we should be okay without having to really change up the layout too much, what do you think?"

Silence.

"Billy?" She looked up when he didn't answer, surprised to see his eyes focused on her instead of the screen.

"Oh. Sorry, I was just …" He blinked. He'd been too distracted by the close contact to pay attention to the business she'd been talking about. The feel of her this close to him, the smell of her perfume, the sound of her soft voice … it was all far too familiar.

"If you're not focused enough to do this, Billy then maybe we should just …" She moved to stand, clearly frustrated.

"No." He reached out and grabbed her arm. "I'm just … I just need to grab some things from my office. That's all. I left some files. Let me go get them and I'll be right back, okay?"

A heavy sigh escaped her lips and she nodded as he stood and hurried from the room. She waited until she heard his footsteps fading down the hall before reaching for her cell phone. The sound of the faint vibration had caught her attention a few moments ago and it had been a blessing that Billy hadn't noticed. She looked down at the notification. 3 missed calls – all from Nick. He was expecting her tonight. Their nightly meetings had become something of a certainty. It was fun and easy and it filled the empty hours, hours she would otherwise have spent behind the desk or worse at home … alone.

She brought the phone to her ear and leaned back against the cool leather of the couch as she listened to the musical ring. "Hey," she breathed as she heard his voice on the other end. "Yeah, sorry … I got caught up here. We have a kind of a crisis with the some of our suppliers and I've got some stuff I have to take care of." She paused as he responded. "No." The word came out quickly and she glanced back towards the door, hoping her raised voice hadn't been heard through the empty hallways. "I don't need any help. This is something I need to take care of on my own, but thanks … for the offer. Yeah, I know. I was looking forward to it too." She let her shoulders drop as she listened to the words. "That does sound like a better way to spend the evening." The heat rushed through her as he continued to speak. "But, I can't Nick, I really can't … I've got to get this finished up. Tomorrow okay? I promise. Yeah. Okay. I'll see you then." She ended the call and let the phone slip from her hand.

"He strikes me a pouter."

She jumped at the sound of his voice. "Billy!" Her body straightened immediately. "How long have you been standing there? What did you hear?"

He stepped back into the room and took a seat next to her again before laying the files on the table in front of him. He hadn't really needed them, but he had desperately needed a break from the pressure that had building up within him. If he hadn't walked away, he couldn't promise he would have been able to stop himself from reaching out, from grabbing her, from kissing her like he'd wanted to for day and weeks now. He missed her more than he ever thought possible. It killed him to know that she was with Nick. "Enough to know that your Newman boytoy isn't getting his playdate tonight."

Her eyes flashed in anger as she looked at him. "That's none of your business. My life and who I chose to have in it is none of your business. Now lets get this done so that we can both go back to our own, separate lives."

The soft knock on the door startled them both.

"Oh." Billy stood up and reached for his wallet. "Thank you," he said softly as he handed a few folded bills to the delivery man. "Have a good one."

Phyllis looked confused as she watched him close the door. "What's that?" she asked pointing to the box.

"I figured it's gonna be a long night," he said with a smile, "and I don't about you but I don't do my best work on an empty stomach. I ordered a pizza." He felt his heart soar a bit as her eyes lit up a bit. "You're welcome to some if you'd like."

She stood up and walked over to the table. "We've got a lot to do, Billy … I …" She stopped. "Mushrooms? You hate mushrooms."

He shrugged. "But you don't."

"No, they're my favorite." She took a seat at the table and reached for the paper plate as he passed a slice towards her. "Thanks," she said softly. "This was nice."

"No big deal. It's just a pizza."

* * *

"So," She took another drink from the cool bottle of beer as she reached down and slid her fingers over the touch pad. "What about if we put the logo there? Do you think it looks strange to have it off center?"

"No. I think it's fine. It draws the eye, but that's good. That's what we want them to focus on anyway, right?"

"Yeah, I mean all the other stuff is nice, but what's important is the two of them. We want everyone to focus on them … on the way he's looking at her, on the bottle, on the logo …" She let the bottle touch her face, her skin suddenly feeling flushed.

"Right … that's right. That's what important." He swallowed hard before looking down at his watch. "It's just after lunch in Hong Kong. Let me go see if I can get a call in to the distributor to see if they can rush us a shipment so we can make the final decisions."

"That'll be great." She let her head fall back against the couch as he rushed from the room. They'd been at this for hours now and even though the work had been exhilarating, she was exhausted. It would take him a while to make the call … she could let her eyes close … just for a moment.

* * *

"Okay! I …" He stopped immediately as his eyes fell on her and he couldn't help but smile. The beer bottle had slipped from her hand and fallen down beside her, the few drops left within in dripping down onto the leather of the couch. Her eyes were closed as she breathed in and out gently, her lips relaxed into a pleasant smile.

This would have been the perfect opportunity to rib her, to accuse her of being less committed to this company than he was, but he would never deny her this moment of tranquility. He knew how precious sleep was. It was the one time of day when he didn't live in the reality he'd created. In his dreams, he still had her. They were still together. They were still in love. They were still planning to spend the rest of their lives together. He couldn't help but wonder what she was dreaming about that made her smile like that. He'd like to hope it was something about him.

Carefully, he moved the pillow to the other end of the couch and gingerly lifted her legs. Her own instincts took over and she curled up, settling herself into position and drawing in a deep sleepy breath. He waited a moment before touching her again, afraid he might rouse her. The blanket was draped over the edge of the other small couch and he reached it and softly covered her. The smile grew larger now as she snuggled down beneath its warmth. He'd watched her like this many times before. Early in the mornings sometimes, he'd wake up before she did. He loved to watch her, so peaceful, so content. She'd lay there, her arms curled up beside her and smile as if everything was right in her world. And then … her eyes would open and the smile would grow and she'd look up at him and say his name. And that … that is how he would start his day. What he would give for another day like that.

He leaned down, his body looming over hers as he gently pushed her hair away from her face. The smile grew larger now as if she were watching a movie in her dream and fast approaching her favorite part. "Billy," she whispered.

His footsteps were almost silent as he stepped down to the end of the sofa and gingerly sat down next to her. There was nowhere on earth he'd rather be. He would start his day with her tomorrow once more.


	4. Chapter 4 Kids

"Ted, I thought I told you to hold all my calls." She tapped the pen hurriedly on her desk as she let her eyes scan the file in front of her. Her eyes suddenly snapped to attention. "It's who? And they asked for me? You're certain?" Phyllis shook her head with a sigh. "Alright. Put them through."

"This is Phyllis Summers." She leaned back into the plush executive chair as she listened to the woman's words. "Right. Yes. That's right. It's just …" She paused. This woman had no interest in her personal life or in how that life had changed in recent months. "Did you call her mother?"

She listened again to the woman's quick response. "Right. Yes, that's right. I did know that. And what about Mr. Abbott? Billy Abbott, her father?" Phyllis closed her eyes. Today was the worst possible day for something like this to happen. She had back to back meetings all day and enough busy work to do to keep her holed up in her office until tomorrow afternoon at this time, but right now, none of that mattered. "I understand," she said quickly, standing up and closing her laptop as she shoved it into her bag. "It's fine. It's perfectly fine. Tell her I'll be right there, alright? I'm on my way."

* * *

"I don't feel so good."

Phyllis held the hotel suite door open for Katie to walk through. "I know you don't, sweetie. I've got some medicine for you right here that'll make you feel better. Let's just get you inside and get you settled right now, okay?"

Katie nodded weakly as she stepped through the door, letting her backpack fall from her hand and onto the floor. She slumped into the small couch in the center of the room and pulled her small legs up to her chest. "My head feels heavy."

"Here we go." Phyllis reached behind her and carefully pulled her jacket off. The feel of her flushed skin beneath her fingertips made her sigh worriedly. Even though it had been years since she'd had a young child at home, she knew high fevers weren't unusual. Still, it made her nervous. Katie was always so energetic and to see her like this was bothersome to say the least. She fluffed the throw pillows on the end of the couch and eased the little girl against them. "You just rest, alright? I'm gonna get you something to drink so we can get some of this medicine in you. You're gonna feel a lot better really soon."

Katie's eyes dropped as she nodded slowly up at her. "Okay," she whispered.

* * *

Phyllis glanced up at the clock as she stood to stretch her legs. The tension in her shoulders and neck had quickly spread to the rest of her body. It had taken several hours for the children's fever reducer to make any real difference in Katie, but she was finally noticing a subtle change in the child's face. Her color was more normal and, even as she slept, she appeared less restless and uncomfortable. Her palm gently swept across her forehead to check the feel of her skin again.

Katie's eyes blinked open at her and she smiled. "Is it morning?"

"No sweetie," Phyllis answered softly. "It's still afternoon. You didn't sleep long. How are you feeling? Any better?"

The little girl seemed to consider the question for a moment before answering. "I think so," she finally responded. For the first time since they'd arrived, Katie sat up a bit and allowed her eyes to roam over her surroundings. "How come you live here now?"

"What?"

"You used to live at the other place. You and Daddy. Does Daddy live here too?"

A sharp stab of pain ripped through her. "No." She forced herself to smile at the innocent child. She hadn't meant to cause any pain with her question. It was a simple, honest wondering and she deserved an answer. "Daddy and I don't live in the same place anymore." She braced herself for the inevitable follow up as she simultaneously tried to figure out how in the world to answer the question.

"Why?"

It was every child's favorite rebuttal. Normally she would have found the precocious curiosity endearing but in this case, where there were no answers, at least none that were appropriate for a five year old, it wasn't as cute.

"We just ... " The sweet face staring back at her threw her off her game and she lowered her head as she lost her words yet again. "It just didn't work out sweetie."

Katie let her body fall back down against the pillows, her recovery clearly not complete. "Is Daddy gonna come here? He's supposed to stay with me tonight. Hannah and Johnny are on a field trip with school. They're staying in a hotel overnight."

Phyllis shook her head. "I know. That's what the nurse said. Your Daddy had a big meeting today for work and he probably turned his cell off, but I left him a message to let him know that you were here, so I'm sure he'll come just as soon as he gets it. Until then, you can hang out here with me. That'll be okay, won't it?"

"Uh huh." Katie looked at the empty spot next to her. "When I'm sick sometimes Mommy lets me watch videos and sometimes she even lets me eat ice cream."

"Ice cream, huh?" Phyllis smiled as she snuggled in next to her. "And what kind of ice cream do you like?"

"Chocolate is my favorite," Katie said softly. "And it's good cause my throat is hurt." She brought her hand to her neck and gingerly touched the skin there.

"I think I can handle that." She turned to grab her phone. Katie's dramatic spiel reminding her that she was every bit her father's daughter. "One of the really cool things about living here is that you can make a phone call and people bring whatever you want right to your door."

Katie's eyes widened. "Anything?" She thought for a moment. "Even French fries?"

"Especially French fries."

* * *

"Arms up."

Katie raised her arms as the oversized t-shirt enveloped her. She giggled as she looked down at it. "It's kind of big," she said softly.

"Well, that's okay," Phyllis smiled. "It'll be just fine for now." She'd waited as long as she could for Billy to call, but after the second round of Katie's pitiful yawns, she'd known it was time for a bath and bed. Her fever had finally broken a few hours ago and with it had come the sweats. The little girl needed a bath and a good night's sleep even it was a couple hours before her normal bed time. "You can sleep in my bed."

"What about Daddy?" Katie managed the words before another huge yawn over took her.

"Daddy will call when he finishes his meeting." Phyllis helped Katie into the large bed and pulled the covers up over her. She couldn't be upset with Billy over this particular instance. As far as he knew, Katie was going to ride home from school with one of her friends, go straight to dance class and then go ice skating with her play group. Afterwards, she'd be dropped off at the Abbott house. There was no reason for him to think anything otherwise.

"I hope he's not mad." The words were whispered as her little eyes drooped.

"Why would he be mad?" Phyllis curled beside her as she carefully brushed the hair away from her face.

"I promised him I'd get him a sugar cookie from the ice rink," Katie yawned. "They're his favorite."

"Oh," Phyllis whispered. "I think he'll understand." She sat there quietly as she watched her ponder the words before slowly drifting off to sleep.

* * *

"Where is she?" Billy's voice was stressed as she pulled the door open and blocked his body with hers.

"Shhh. She's fine. She's asleep." She could see the relief on his face as she said the words. "I didn't take her to the doctor or anything. I figured you could do that if you wanted to, but she seemed okay. Her fever broke after I gave her some medicine. I've got the times written down in here." She shifted her body to allow him to walk into the room.

His eyes immediately moved towards the bed, to the image of his daughter curled up and soundly sleeping clad in one of Phyllis' few t-shirts. He smiled without realizing it.

"What?" His smiles in her presence were rare now and she wasn't about to let one pass without a mention.

"The shirt … She's wearing your shirt."

"The fever had her sweaty and she needed a bath. I knew she wouldn't be comfortable sleeping in her clothes so I decided to let her sleep in one of my shirts. It's kind of big, but it served the purpose." She handed him the slip of paper with the doses and times she'd given Katie the medicine. "Here," she whispered.

"Thanks." He looked around the room a little more, noting the empty ice cream container and remote. "Looks like you two made quite the day of it. I'm sorry about this. I'm sure you had other things you needed to be doing."

"No. It was … Katie's a great kid. I like spending time with her. I miss it." She said the words before she realized it. She did miss them. Kids had never really been her thing. Even her own children, who she would move heaven for, had never made her into a maternal sort. Still, when she was around Katie and Johnny, she was reminded of what it might feel like to share them with someone like Billy, to have a family with him, to truly build a life.

"She misses you too," he said quietly. "She asks about you all the time … Johnny too."

Her eyes snapped to attention. "Really?"

"Yeah. He thinks you're funny and that sportscar you drive doesn't hurt."

"Well, he's a great kid. So is she. So today, it was good. Sure there were other things I could have been doing, but they wouldn't have been nearly as fun. I mean, you can't watch princess movies and eat chocolate ice cream while running a cosmetics company."

"No you cannot." He smiled at her before looking back towards the bed. "I kinda hate to move her. She looks so peaceful."

"You don't have to. She's welcome to stay here tonight."

"I couldn't ask you to do that. She's supposed to be with me tonight."

"You can stay too if you …" She stopped, the look on her face giving her pause. "I didn't mean it like that … I just meant … if you wanted to stay, you can bunk in with her and I'll take the couch."

"Phyllis, I couldn't …"

She felt her face flush with embarrassment. She'd gotten caught up in the moment. Of course they couldn't. They were way past anything that could be salvaged. "Of course not. I'm sorry I said anything. I'll get her things together and her clothes and you can …"

"Phyllis … Phyllis …" He touched her arm gently and she felt the wave of heat rush through her just like she always did. "I didn't mean that. I just …. You take the bed with Katie and I'll … I'll take the couch. Maybe in the morning we can order breakfast and all eat together before I have to take her to school?" He smiled, hoping this small gesture might be the first of many.

"I …" She hesitated for only a moment before he flashed another smile at her and reached out to brush his hand against hers.

"It's only breakfast," he said softly.

"Yeah." She nodded. It was only breakfast, a small step, miniscule really, but the first step in the journey always was.


	5. Chapter 5 Lost

"Can you let her know I'm here, Ted? And tell her it's urgent … just like it's been urgent the last three times I've stopped by this morning?" He huffed as the door finally opened. "Well, it's about …" He stopped, surprised to see the person on the other side of the door. "Lauren? What are you doing here?"

Lauren stepped back a bit and glanced over at Ted. "Thank you," she smiled.

He looked over apologetically. "I tried to tell him that no meetings were being scheduled, but …"

She nodded. "I understand. Some people just can't take no for an answer can they?" Her eyes glared at Billy as she made room to enter to walk past her into the office. "It's no problem. I'll handle this." She felt the pressure build up within her as she let the office door close. Phyllis has trusted her to be the COO and, even more than that, she'd trusted her to be the one person that knew the real reason she hadn't been in the office the last few days. If battling Billy was what she had to do to show her friend how much her respect and trust meant to her, it was a small price to pay.

"Don't tell me Phyllis has already given up the ghost?" His words were dripping with condescension as he sat down on the leather sofa. "I mean we have a pool going, but no one opted in for less than two weeks."

Lauren sat down with an irritated sigh. "Phyllis certainly hasn't given up anything. She's just busy with some other things at the moment and she asked me to step in and handle things here for her."

"She already needs someone to cover for her?" He rolled his eyes. "That bodes well."

"Some people know how to assemble a team, Billy. They know how to surround themselves with strong, confident employees that can step up in the event that they're needed. Other people chose to alienate everyone until they crash and burn and are eventually completely and totally alone. I guess we know which type you are, right?"

"That's good," he sneered. "Get your shots in, Lauren, but that still doesn't explain why a newly elected CEO is already calling in a favor to bail her out when she feels overwhelmed."

"I never said she needed bailing out. Don't put words in my mouth and I certainly never said this had anything to do with her being overwhelmed."

"No. I guess you didn't."

The smug look on his face gave her the urge to slap it off and she found her fingernails digging into the palm of her hand as she stared at him.

"So why don't you set me straight? Where is Phyllis and why isn't she here doing her job?"

"That's really none of your concern, Billy. I assume because you're here that you need to speak with her about something and since I'm filling in for her today, you can speak to me. Is there an issue with the marketing strategy that you and Kyle are supposed to be developing?"

He eyed her suspiciously. Her words were careful, too careful as if she was all too aware of what she could and couldn't say. "It's really something I'd rather discuss with Phyllis since she's the acting CEO and all. I'm sure you understand."

"Actually no, I don't. She asked me to fill in for her and I'm sure you'll agree that I'm more than capable of doing so with all my experience running Fenmore's, so I don't know why you'd shy away from talking with me about these things."

Billy sat up a bit. "Well, I don't know that I'd be flaunting your experience with Fenmore's given the fact that your entire company would have gone bankrupt had it not been for the bankroll of …"

"You really want to talk about reputations right now?" Lauren leaned forwards, her eyes locking with her, the expression simply daring him to continue with his weighted words.

He stopped, catching her meaning and understanding the veiled threat behind each word. "Fine," he sighed, "but still, I'll just wait on Phyllis if it's all the same to you."

"Suit yourself." She stood up, already frustrated. "If you want to make your life even more difficult, go ahead. Fine by me." She took a seat behind the desk as she waited for him to move towards the door. "Close it behind you," she spat.

* * *

Billy walked towards the elevator, his eyes glancing toward Ted's empty desk. Today had been virtually useless. Without his questions answered, he was virtually at a standstill with the marketing project, and with Phyllis MIA, he had no idea when he might actually have a shot at getting the answers he needed. Lauren was right, he could talk to her, but every conversation he had with her was one less reason he'd have to talk to Phyllis when she returned.

He hesitated for a moment before walking towards the door again. Maybe she'd come in later in the afternoon. Phyllis had always enjoyed working late after everyone left for the day. It was when she could get the most done, when office hours were over, when the phones didn't ring and people didn't stop by, when the rest of the world was home and living their lives. They often joked about it when they were holed up in their own offices together. Sometimes they didn't get much work done either, but that was a long, long time ago.

Lauren's voice rang out from the interior office and he felt a wave of disappointment wash over him. The door was slightly ajar and he let his body lean towards the opening, just close enough to hear her conversation.

"It's no bother, really. I don't mind at all. I'm gonna be heading out in an hour or so … right after I return a few e-mails. It really hasn't, sweetie. Not too bad. A bit busy this morning, but nothing handle." Lauren laughed a bit. "I've done this before, you know." Another pause. "Right, so I'll see you in a bit. What can I pick you up for dinner? I know you can't possibly be eating that hospital food?"

Billy stood still, his ears perking at the tiny bit of information.

"Alright, if you're not gonna tell me, I'll have to surprise you." Another sigh. "Don't be ridiculous. Michael's fine. He's got a mountain of paperwork to keep him company and this gives me a perfect reason to have dinner with my best friend, okay? Alright. I'll see you a bit. Bye."

His stomach lurched as the final piece of the puzzle fell into place. Phyllis wasn't overwhelmed. She wasn't flaking out. She wasn't giving up of her own free will. Something was wrong and he had to find out what it was.

* * *

Dread. That was the only way to describe the feeling he felt as he stepped through the hospital doors and walk over to the nurses' station. He held back for a moment, waiting and listening as one of the nurses quickly briefed another for the shift change. His eyes drifted over the door, room 425. The nice, young woman in administration had already told him that was her room number. He knew she was just behind that door … what he needed to know now was why.

"422 is the hysterectomy. She's still on liquids. Dr. Benton left notes for her med protocol. 423 is waiting on discharge papers. 424 is in recovery now … she should be back in the room within the hour, follow up with Dr. Greenfield later tonight. And 425 is post D & C. She was supposed to be discharged this afternoon, but she had some pretty extensive bleeding, so Dr. Benton decided to keep her overnight to be on the safe side. Keep a check on that and note it in the charts every two hours." The nurse nodded quickly as she retained the information.

Billy stepped back, pulling his cell phone from his pocket. A few quick taps on the screen and the dread quickly turned to nausea. He swallowed hard as he forced the breath into his lungs and mentally willed his feet to move back towards the large desk in the center of the room. "Excuse me," he managed in a hoarse voice. "I'd like to see Phyllis Summers. She's in room 425. Is it alright if I just go in?"

The nurse nodded, the importance of this moment completely lost on her.

He peered through the window first. She lay on her side, her legs drawn up towards her chest. He couldn't see her face, but he could only imagine what she was going through … alone … without him. It broke his heart. He pushed on the door, the noise rousing her.

"Lauren," she said quietly, "I thought you said it would be …" Her eyes widened. "Billy, what are you?"

He didn't bother to answer until he was seated in the chair beside the bed. So many times, he thought of what he would like to say to her. It hadn't always been the nicest of conversations, but sometimes he would think of the ways he'd apologize if he was given the chance. Sometimes he'd imagine the ways he'd tell her how he felt if only she'd allow him to say what was in his heart before shutting him down, but now … in a situation like this, knowing what he knew, all those words were gone. "I know you probably didn't want me here," he whispered.

"What are you doing here?" she repeated.

"I overheard Lauren talking to you on the phone in the office and I heard her say you were here so I just wanted to … I just wanted to see if you were okay. I …"

"I'm fine." She struggled to push herself up in the bed, the movement causing a surge of pain through her and she winced.

His warm hands were on her skin before she had a chance to stop him and his eyes were soft as he looked down at her. "You okay?" He stopped himself before continuing. "I'm sorry. That was a stupid thing to say. Of course you're not okay with what …"

Her face changed immediately. "What do you mean … I'm fine … this isn't …"

"Phyllis …" His own voice cracked as he said her name. "I know why you're here. I know what happened."

This time she fought through the pain, nothing was worth having to look into his eyes as he said the words to her. She forced her body to turn away. "This is none of your business," she hissed. "You shouldn't even be here. I didn't want you here. If I'd wanted you here I would've …."

"None of my business?" He leaned back in the chair, her words making the pain he already felt even more raw. "Why? Because you don't want it to be or because it's Nick's business instead?"

Her head snapped back to look at him, the look in her eyes not completely anger or pain, but a mix of both. "I …"

The snappy comeback didn't feel good this time. None of it did. He just wanted to hold her, to comfort her, to tell her how sorry he was, to tell her how much he wanted this baby that he'd never even known existed until now. This child, that wasn't even a reality was a symbol of the life they'd lost, of the dream they had, of the family they'd planned to be.

A single tear drifted down her cheek and he stood and walked to the other side of the bed, sitting down on the edge so that he could look at her once again. His thumb lightly brushed it away as he looked down at her. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I shouldn't have said that. I didn't mean it. I don't know why I said it."

"It's okay."

"No, it's not okay. You didn't deserve that. You had every right not to tell me about this. I didn't give you any reason to think that I'd be here for you or that I'd be any kind of support. I just wish you had mainly because I wish you hadn't been here alone and I would've been here for you. I know you don't think much of me, but I just wish you knew that. I wish somewhere inside you'd known that I would have been here …"

"I did." Her words were almost silent as she looked up at him. "I did know you'd be here. That's why I didn't tell you. I knew that if you knew I was pregnant, you'd be here and I couldn't handle that right now. I couldn't be around you. I was too angry and I was afraid that the stress and the anger would be too much and that it would …." She felt the lump growing in the throat again and she stopped. "Of course, I guess it didn't matter, because I lost …" She exhaled a shaky breath. "I know it's my fault. I know that taking this job and working these long hours and everything was too much and I should've stopped. I should've taken a step back and now …"

"This isn't your fault. It's mine. All the pressure and all the stress and everything … I was being such an ass and I made everything at Jabot ten times harder than it needed to be and …" He touched her face again. "I didn't know. I would have never … no matter who's child …"

"Yours …" The child would never be born, but somehow she still wanted him to know, needed him to know that it had been their baby, that it had been something good left of them that, at least for a time, had remained. "It was our baby."

Hospitals were never really silent. There were always strange sounds of beeping and machines and voices. This moment was no different and yet somehow her words seemed to echo throughout the room over and over again. He could hear the sound of his own heart beating, the sound of her heart breaking, the sounds of the fragile moment that existed between them that maybe … just maybe … could remind them of the love that still remained.


	6. Chapter 6 My Watch

Phyllis took another deep breath before leaning back in the chair. "I understand your concern, Mr. Denton, but I assure you I have no interest in terminating the relationship our companies have together. These stores are launching a line of very exclusive products for the holiday season and, once we establish a client base, we'll certainly be looking into broadening our product lines." She brought her hand to her head as his voice continued to echo through the phone. "Mr. Denton, if you'll just … I can completely see your …. I …."

The red light on the phone blinked incessantly. "If you'll just give me a moment. I've got a call on another line." She took a moment before answering the intercom. "Ted? This better be good." She paused. "No. No it isn't … No, I really can't…." The door burst open before she could finish the conversation.

"I should have figured as much!" The booming voice filled the entire room as the man pushed his way past Ted.

"Mr. Denton," Phyllis said hurriedly into the phone, "I'm gonna have to call you back." She didn't even bother to listen to the rage filled words she knew were being spewed toward her. This particular brand of vitriol seemed more pressing.

"I can call security," Ted offered.

"No. No. I'm sure there's no need to do that." Phyllis stepped from behind the desk, determined not to tell the man see that he'd shaken her. "I can handle this. You can go. I'm sure Mr. Denton will be calling back any minute now. Just let him know I'll give him a call back as soon as I can."

Ted looked at her with wary eyes. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure." She smiled. Ted wouldn't have been her first choice for a hire, but he'd become someone she depended on and he did his best even when that best didn't always cut it.

She smiled again as she noted the gap he left in the door as he pulled it close to closing, but not quite and took a seat at his desk again. "I'm Phyllis Summers," she said calmly as she extended her hand to the brooding man who stood in front of her. "And you are?"

"Michael Rendol."

Her eyes flashed in sudden understanding. "Rendol's Department Store?"

"So you do know that I exist?" he spat. "It just doesn't matter to you. See, this is why a woman shouldn't be in a position like this. You go in here with all your stupid, silly plans and you can't sit down and sit ahead long enough to see the mess you're gonna make in the long run. You've got no long range planning. You just go ahead with your stupid instincts and intuition and think everything's gonna fall into place and when it doesn't, you expect everyone to pick up after you and make it okay because it wasn't your fault that you didn't know and …"

"Whoa …" She held up her hand. "Wait a minute. Why don't you have a seat here and explain to me exactly what's got you so upset."

"You know damn well why I'm upset." He slung a stack of papers towards her. "Your ridiculous Jabotiques are building up right next door to our stores. You're gonna be diverting customers, traffic, and everything else right in the middle of the busiest part of the shopping season and you've got all your stupid construction workers out there now making a mess of everything to make matters even worse and …"

She walked back behind the desk quickly. "Just a moment, Mr. Rendol. Let me pull up the information on the stores and see exactly where we are with that particular build. I'm sure there's some reason that the construction is still being completed and if it's interfering with your customer's being able to access your store, I'll be happy to look into some alternate …"

"I'm wasting my time even sitting here talking to you. It's obvious you don't what the hell you're doing. You're sitting up here in this office, behind this desk and you aren't even a part of this family. In all my years of dealing with companies like this, I've never had to walk in one and deal with some made up, pushed up, tart. What happened? You get tired of being someone's trophy wife and decide you need to make time in your day for something worthwhile in between the shopping and Botox?"

"Mr. Rendol," She could feel her insides begin to tremble with rage but she couldn't let it show. She had to be professional or at least appear that way. "I assure you, I am not now nor have I ever been anyone's trophy wife. I am completely and totally capable of running this company. Now if you'll just give me a moment and let me pull up the information on the store closest to you, I'll be happy to see what I can do to help you."

"My Daddy always said a woman could only be useful in three places … The bathroom to clean it, the kitchen to cook in in it, and the bedroom to …." He stopped and looked at her, his eyes roaming over her body for a minute. "Well, I'll let you figure that out."

"With management like that, I'm surprised you have any women as customers in your stores." The words left her lips before she could stop them and she could see the flash of anger on his face.

"Why don't you just move the hell out of the way and let someone that knows what they're doing see what's going on?" He was behind the desk before she knew it and his hand was on her arm, pulling her away.

Only then did she hear his voice.

"You're gonna want to leave now."

"Billy Abbott?" The tone in his voice completely changed as he stepped around the desk and extended his hand. "I was hoping I'd be able to talk to you. One of the guys working on the parking lot told me these stores were your idea and I knew if you were in charge, you'd understand my way of thinking, but then …." He stopped and gestured towards Phyllis. "I walk in here and have to try and deal with this skirt and …"

"You can stop right there." Billy crossed his arms over his chest and stepped closer to her. "Ms. Summers is the CEO of this company and the changes she's made are all in the best interest of Jabot. If you have a legitimate concern, I'm sure she would be more than happy to help address that, but if you can't do it in a respectful manner, maybe you'd be better off discussing it with me."

"You trying to tell me you're okay taking orders from this …"

"She's a smart, capable, innovative, professional woman and yes, I'm perfectly willing to work for and with her."

"Well forget it then …" He stood up in a huff. "I was just coming here out of courtesy. I can just as easily take this to my lawyer."

Billy saw Phyllis' face, the look of concern obvious. "If you thought you had a case, you would have already done that, now wouldn't you? It's clear to me that you don't want to talk to her with respect and it's also clear that you're not gonna talk to her that way on my watch, so Why don't you let me walk you to the elevator?" He could feel her eyes following them out of the room. It took everything in him not to look back at her.

* * *

Phyllis put the phone down as she saw his face lingering outside the window. "Billy?" she called out. "Can you come in here for a moment?"

He stepped into the office. "I was just waiting for you to finish your phone calls," he said quickly. "I wanted to let you know that I followed the guy out to the parking lot. He's gone and I don't think he's gonna be coming back. And don't worry about that threat about the lawyers either. If he thought he had any kind of case, he would have already called the lawyers before ever coming here. Anytime people say something like that and they're here alone, it's all talk."

"Thanks," she said softly. "And thanks for what you did today. I appreciate the assist. He wasn't really happy to see a woman in this office."

"Well you know some men have a problem with women in power." Billy shrugged as he looked at her.

"But you don't?"

"Depends on the woman," he smiled slightly. "In your case, no. I think you're more than capable of handling this. Honestly, I wish it hadn't happened the way it did, but that doesn't mean I think you can't do it."

"So that's why you stepped in today? That's why you stood up for me?" It wasn't the real question and they both knew it, but it was the only one she felt she could ask in the moment. Her eyes stared into his, waiting and hoping for an answer that would tell her something … anything about the way he truly felt.

"I stepped in …" He stammered a bit and shifted his weight nervously. "I stepped because I couldn't …. I wouldn't …." He smiled nervously as the weight of her stare sent a wave of heat through him. "You know I couldn't ever let anything hurt …." The words he wanted to say were screaming in his head, but he just couldn't say them …. "the company," he said finally. "I'll always look out for the company."


	7. Chapter 7 Your Germs

"Mr. Abbott," Ted looked up from his computer, surprised to see Billy approaching. "Did you …"

"Ted." Billy cut him off, standing in front of the desk in front of him with his arms crossed. "You can skip the Mr. Abbott stuff. You don't need to respect me. No one here does."

Ted shook his head, brushing off Billy's self-depreciating comment. "You got my message about Ms. Summers cancelling the meeting, right?"

"I did," he sighed in frustration. "That news reached me. I just thought I'd stop by and let her know that the cancellation doesn't really work for me. We have things to do and deadlines to meet and just because she doesn't feel like meeting on a Friday afternoon doesn't mean our customers won't be expecting the products we promised."

"I'm sure she understands that," Ted said softly, glancing back towards the closed office door and drawn blinds. "Ms. Summers just wasn't able to do the meeting today. Something came up."

"I'll bet." Billy glared at the closed office door. He could only imagine what had come up for Phyllis today. During his tenure as CEO, he'd made plenty of mistakes and it had been those mistakes that had led Phyllis to this position. He wasn't about to sit idly by and watch as she drove his family's business even further off the cliff.

"I'll be sure to tell her you were concerned about it and that you would like her to get in touch regarding the reschedule as soon as possible." Ted took his seat again behind his desk, obviously unwilling to leave until he was certain Billy wouldn't be problem.

"Thanks, Ted." He snapped. "You do that." He walked quickly off to the stairwell and pulled the door open. He waited there, his heartbeat echoing in his ear as he watched Ted sit still and wait. It only took a moment for him to turn off the computer and gather his things. It had been exactly as he had suspected. Ted had only been waiting to ensure he'd leave. Phyllis had herself a guard dog now. It figured.

He smiled to himself at his cunning ability as he heard the chime of the elevator. Quickly he made his way to her office door. He took a quick breath, bracing himself for what he might see as he pulled the door open. Seeing Nick and Phyllis out together in public was bad enough, seeing them in the throes of passion might burn his retinas clear out of his head.

The door opened easily and, to his surprise, there were no sounds coming from inside. His eyes immediately moved towards the desk, where Phyllis sat, leaning back in the chair, her fingertips lightly massaging her temples.

"Bad day?" He didn't take any real pleasure in her pain, but it did give him some bit of joy to know that she wasn't gliding through the position that had caused him such frustration.

"Billy?" Her eyes flew open as she heard his voice. "I didn't hear you come in. How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to see the how the mighty have fallen. Looks like the perfect job might not be quite so perfect, huh?"

"Ted was supposed to call you and let you know that we need to reschedule the meeting. I'm sorry if he missed you. Let me just go see if he …" She stood up, her hand instantly gripping the edge of the desk as she tried to move.

"Woah." He leapt forward, his hands grabbing for her and finding her arm before wrapping around her waist.

"I'm fine," she stammered. "I just stood up too fast and I've got this headache." She pulled away, attempting to step back from him before swaying again and grabbing for his hand to steady her.

"No. You're not. I've seen you fine and this isn't it." Now that he was closer to her, he could see the clear indication of deep set pain in her eyes. Every once in a great while when they'd lived together, she came home with headache like this and even though she'd swear it wasn't that bad, he could look at her and tell she was hurting. She was tough as nails, but even she had a breaking point. "Come over here and lie down," he said softly as he guided her towards the sofa.

"I don't need to lie down," she huffed. "I've got things to do. That's why I cancelled our meeting. I need to get some of this paperwork finished up and I've got a ton of stuff I need to take home with me and I've got calls to return and …" She clenched her eyes as the rays of the setting sun seemed to send daggers through her head.

"What you need to do is come over here and stop being so stubborn," he said as he again attempted to lead her towards the sofa. His hand touched her arm again and he stilled. "Phyllis?"

She blinked up at him as she felt his hand gently touch the side of her face. "I don't think this is a headache. You're burning up. I think you're coming down with something."

"I am not," she groaned. "I don't get sick. I can't get sick. I don't have time to get sick."

"Yeah, well, somebody might want to let your immune system in on that little plan because the last time I remember anyone having a headache like this and feeling this warm to the touch …" He caught the ever so slight glance she shot up at him.

"I didn't mean it like that," he smiled slightly. "Katie had the flu a couple weeks ago and her symptoms started just like that."

"Would you stop saying that?" Phyllis let her body fall back against the sofa. "I can't have the flu. Do you have any idea how much work I have to do this weekend? There is absolutely no way I can have the flu."

"Well, I hate to be the one to break it to you, but …. " He stopped. It was one thing to razz her when she was in fighting form, but it was another to go after her when she was like this, when she needed him, when he was forced to look into those eyes and realize he was still hopelessly and completely at her mercy. "Tell you what," he said quietly, "Why don't you just lie back for a bit and rest and I'm sure you'll feel better. At least if you have a bit of a rest, you'll feel up to staying later and finishing up some of the stuff you've got to do."

There was no doubt she was frustrated, but the simple fact that she was considering it made the depth of her exhaustion and sickness quite obvious. "I guess I could," she said hesitantly. "But why are you doing this? You gonna use this against me somehow? Take pictures of me sleeping on the job and publish it or something?"

"Phyllis," he sighed. "You really think I would do something like that?"

She narrowed her eyes as she looked at him. Her words weren't needed. Her eyes said it all.

"I guess I deserved that," he muttered.

"I didn't say anything," she breathed.

"You didn't have to. The look did." He took a seat beside her for a moment. "Listen, I'm not looking to make your life miserable and despite what you might think, I don't get any real pleasure from watching this job steal your soul. Just do me a favor and let me do the decent thing here. Let me do this one decent thing. It can be my good deed for the month. I haven't done one yet and it's almost the end."

The comment earned him a small smile and he felt his heart leap a bit. He stood, hesitating for only a moment before handing her the throw from the back of the couch. "Just rest and you'll feel better when you wake up. It's always better when you wake up."

* * *

She took a breath, the throbbing in her head slightly better but still there. The aches and pains that had once been localized had now seemed to move throughout her body and, as much as she hated to admit it, she feared Billy might be right. This certainly felt like the flu or a semi truck. The sound of his voice now became even more clear and she kept her eyes closed as she focused more to listen to his words.

"Ms. Summers is absolutely one of the best. You'll be so pleased when you meet her. She's competent and confident and you'll absolutely love the new vision and energy she's bringing to the company. Honestly, I couldn't think of anyone that is better suited to lead our company in this new direction." There was a pause and she almost forced herself to sit up, concerned the fever had led to delusions, but she stopped as she heard his voice again. "Well, I'm certain that none of us would want our private lives broadcast and Ms. Summers is certainly no different. All I'll say on that matter is that I know, from personal experience, that she is a capable, passionate, creative, leader who wants only the best for this company and its employees. Nothing in her past or her personal life should have any bearing on what she's doing or what she will do for this company." She forced herself to stay completely still until she heard the sharp rap of the phone's receiver hitting the base.

"Asshole," Billy muttered.

She moved intentionally to signal to him that she was awake. In an instant he was close to her.

"Hey," he breathed. "How ya feeling?"

"Honestly?" She shrugged. "Like hell. And I'm setting a dangerous precedent here, but I think you're right. I think I've got the flu and I don't have a clue what I'm gonna do about it. I've got so much to do here and …"

"It's done." Billy gestured to the desk. "I made all the phone calls, rescheduled tonight's dinner meeting for next week and I've got all the information loaded onto a flash drive so that I can finish it up once I get you home."

She blinked, her words momentarily leaving her. "Why? Why would you do that?"

"Because it's my family's company and I want to it to succeed and because you're sick and you need my help."

"And that's what you're doing? You're helping me?"

"You're afraid I'm really trying to sabotage you somehow? You're worried that I've copied all the company files onto a flash drive that I'm going to sell to the highest bidder?"

"It wouldn't be the first time you've stolen from me, would it?" She felt horrible, both physically and emotionally.

"We don't have to get into all that right now, do we? You really need to get home and get some rest."

She nodded. "Yeah, I guess. Rehashing everything doesn't really do anyone any good anyway. You don't need to drive me home though. I can call a car."

"Don't be ridiculous. Besides, you didn't honestly think I was gonna let you go off to the club by yourself with the flu did you?"

Her eyes studied him suspiciously. "So what? You thought you'd use this as an opportunity to move in?"

He scoffed. "I'm certainly not moving in, but I thought I could be there to help you out and I figured you'd want me there so you could keep an eye on things while I work on the paperwork you don't really feel like doing." There was a flash of realization in her eyes. "Flashdrive, remember?"

"Right," she breathed. "You're right. It is probably better that I'm around to supervise. I guess it would be okay if you were there. There's a couch and I can get them to send in a rollaway or …"

"The couch'll be fine," he smiled. "I've spent many a night on a couch."

"I don't doubt that for a second." She couldn't help but smile at his brazen admission of his own shortcomings.

"Let's just get your stuff together and get you home."

* * *

"Was that your boyfriend?" The question was meant to be a joke, but the expression on her face made him immediately regret his words. "Sorry," he breathed. "I was just kidding. I …"

She shook her head as she shuffled back into the room. "It was Nick," she said quietly. "We had talked about having dinner this weekend and he was calling to sure up the plans."

"Did you tell him I was here?"

"I didn't see why he needed to know that," she answered brusquely. "I mean it's about Jabot and that's it, right?"

"Right, yeah. That's it. That's why I was wondering if you told him. Since it's not anything, I didn't think he'd care and I figured he'd be happy to know you weren't here by yourself while you were sick and all."

"I didn't tell him I was sick." She saw the look of interest on his face and she wished the words could somehow be sucked back into her mouth.

"You didn't tell him? Why not? And how did he not know? I mean I can tell just by your voice that there's something wrong … and he …"

"I'm sure he just figured it had been a long day."

"Right and you wouldn't have wanted him to feel like he needed to come and take care of you or anything because then you would have had to explain that someone was already here to take care of you and that would have been all awkward and stilted and …"

"Can you not make everything about …"

The sound of the knock on the door stopped them both and Billy stood and walked quickly over to it. "Thank you," he smiled as he walked into the room cradling the bag in his arm.

"Pastina," he smiled, "It's supposed to cure anything and then when you're feeling better, you can share some pizza with me."

"Pastina," she whispered. "How in the world did you know I liked pastina?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I guess you mentioned it once. Or maybe Jack said something about it when you were sick once. I can't remember exactly … I just remember filing it away."

"The fact that you would remember something like that …"

"I don't forget anything," he said with a smile as he looked into her eyes. Even sick, she was still the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

It would be so easy to just forget everything, to fall back into the arms she knew so well, but she couldn't. "Neither do I," she said, her words bringing back the harsh reality to the moment. For a moment she hated herself for ruining the moment so much so that she had to stop and think about it before she added, "Earlier, what you said on the phone …"

He stopped, his hands freezing on top of the small container of broth and noodles. "The phone?"

"I heard you. I know you thought I was sleeping, but I heard what you said. You were talking about me to someone and I just wondered why you would say something like that. You don't want me to be the CEO of Jabot. You've made that perfectly clear but yet you told that person that I was the best person for the job. Why would you say something that you clearly don't believe?"

"I wasn't going to trash you to a perfect stranger. I want Jabot to do well and right now, you're at the helm. I have to try and respect that and that's what I'm doing."

"Right now I'm at the helm? What does that mean?"

"Phyllis," Billy sighed as he pushed the container of broth towards her. "Now's really not the time to be getting into this. You're not up for it and there's plenty for me to do to keep myself busy. Why don't we just eat and try to get alone so that this whole endeavor is as painless as possible."

And just like the mood was gone, ever glimmer of hope that something could be salvaged from the day was gone. "Fine," she said curtly. "Thanks for getting the food. I guess we don't have to talk about this or anything."

He could see the pain all over her face and it killed him to know that he'd put it there. He leaned back against the sofa, his eyes focusing on the slice of pizza that sat on the plate in front of him. The sound of her slightly shaky breathing weighed heavily on him as they chewed in silence.

"You can go." Her words surprised him as she stood up quickly. "I appreciate everything you've done, but if I can't power through this then maybe I shouldn't even be the CEO. I can't rely on you to help me here. I have to do this on my own because I am on my own here and …"

Her skin was still warm to the touch as he reached out towards her, standing up next to her and gently catching her arm before she turned away. "What I said to the man on the phone …" He waited until she let her shoulders drop and her eyes turned back to look at him. "I meant it. All of it …" He stood, still and quiet as he waited to see what she'd do.

After a moment, she lowered her body back to the couch and looked up at him, clearly waiting for him to do the same. She didn't speak until he'd sat down and her body slid closer to him, breathing in deep as he gingerly slid his arm around her. "Unless you're afraid of the germs," she smiled.

He leaned down and gently brushed his lips against her forehead. "Not as long as they're your germs," he smiled.


	8. Chapter 8 Baby Love

The days of happy, carefree announcing his arrival were gone. The thought occurred to him only as he gingerly turned his key into the lock and pushed the front door open as quietly as possible. His eyes scanned the living room, the once posh, modern furnishings now scattered with laundry baskets, blankets, burp clothes, and various other baby paraphernalia. Babies certainly seemed to require more stuff now, he thought as he stepped aside to avoid a small stack of gifts that still remained unopened. Yet another sign of how life had changed so dramatically. Phyllis loved gifts, but now there was something she loved so much more. He moved into the kitchen, sitting the paper bag down on the counter beside the freshly washed bottles.

He climbed the stairs, smiling without even realizing it as he saw the soft light filtering out from the open nursery door. His smile grew as he reached the entrance and saw them there. Phyllis sat in the rocker, the one he'd found for her at the antique shop near Chicago not long after she'd told him, albeit begrudgingly, about the pregnancy. He could still remember the trepidation on her face as she'd said the words. They were far from okay, not even friends at that point, and he'd been afraid – in that moment – that there might not be any way to rebuild their relationship. What he knew for sure was that he was going to be a father and he was determined to be a damn good one. So he stopped pushing to win her back, stopping trying so hard to insinuate himself back into her life and instead focused on showing her how sincere he was, how much he cared, how determined he was to show this child that he'd changed, that it would be different and not just for now, but forever.

And everything changed.

She started to look at him the way she had once before, as if she could trust him, maybe even love him and then one day she admitted that there had never been a time when she'd stopped, no matter how much her head had told her heart to shut up. They'd agreed to take things slow, to not barrel ahead just because she was pregnant but, when he'd first seen the house, he'd been able to picture them in it so clearly that he couldn't contain himself. He'd made an offer before checking with her and even then, he'd had a familiar moment of dread when he told her about it. He was afraid she'd be angry … that he hadn't confided in her, that he hadn't included her, or that he was making decisions for her, but instead her eyes had softened and filled with tears. Hormones, she'd claimed, but he knew better. He knew how much it meant to her to see him making decisions that illustrated how serious he was, how committed, how much he wanted this family.

And now that family was right in front of him. Phyllis was sleeping soundly, the rocking having ceased with their baby daughter curled up on her chest. She was still on maternity leave even though Charlotte was nearly nine weeks old. She'd only been home with them for three, her first six weeks having been spent in the NICU. Those weeks had tested them both in ways he'd never dreamed possible.

He tried to keep his footsteps light as he walked over towards them. His breath still caught as he looked down at the tiny baby girl's perfect features. She was truly a mix of them both which a bit of Phyllis' striking features and his dark hair. "Hey," he whispered softly, the smile on his face beaming as Phyllis's fluttered open.

Her face immediately cringed and she moved to bring her hand to her head before realizing the baby was still sleeping on her chest. She inhaled sharply. "Sorry," she almost mouthed. "I was feeding her and I guess we both fell asleep. I know I look like death."

"You look absolutely beautiful," he whispered before leaning down and kissing the apple of her cheek. "You want me to try to lay her down?"

Phyllis shook her head as she carefully stood and tiptoed over to the crib. Her careful movements were successful and she managed a silent victory cheer as they moved stealthily from the room.

She collapsed onto the sofa beside him, curling into his arms as he pulled her body closer to him. "I missed you today," he whispered in the deep voice that always sent a surge of heat through her.

"I missed you too," she agreed. "But one of us does have to work and I just can't …" She paused, as she tried to consider a time that she might be ready to walk away from the little girl upstairs. "I just can't even think about it yet."

His lips brushed her temple. "And you don't have to. When I see you up there with her, it's perfect. It's everything."

"You know it's funny, I've slept literally four hours in the last three days and everyone talks about how hellish the first few months are, but I wouldn't trade this for anything. When I think about what could have happened … how close we came to …" She sighed as she felt his arms tighten around her. It had been a moment that could have broken them, but instead it had bonded them together.

 _"_ _It's too early, Billy. She's too little. She needs longer. I have to keep her longer."_

 _"_ _Listen to me." He took her hand as he stared deep into her eyes. "Our little girl is strong. You heard the doctors. Babies born at 30 weeks have an excellent chance of survival. She'll be okay."_

 _"_ _He didn't say okay, Billy. He said she 'should' be okay. He also said she'll probably be in the NICU for weeks. We won't be able to take her home. What if she thinks she's alone in there? What if something goes wrong …"_

 _"_ _They've already given you the steroid shots. The nurse said that makes a huge difference. She's gonna be okay. She's our baby, remember? She's gonna be a fighter." He could see her fighting herself to hold it together, to try and maintain the shaky grip she had on her composure. "Our little girl is coming home with us."_

"You said she'd come home with us." She looked up at him, her eyes shining as she remembered the strength he'd given her. "You were right. You never wavered. You were my rock."

"Are you kidding? I was a wreck. Every time I told you I was going to get coffee, I'd go and sit in the chapel and just beg God not to punish me this way, not to take our baby girl."

"You never told me that." Her voice was quiet as she traced the lines of his hand.

"I didn't want you to worry. I wanted to be strong and positive for you, but inside I was scared to death. I had everything I ever wanted right in front of me and I knew with everything I'd done, I didn't deserve it."

"No one deserves it. That's why it's so precious. I look at her and I'm just astounded that I'm getting the chance to do this again … with you." She closed her eyes as she felt his lips brush hers, the soft kiss quickly turning into a longer, more passionate one. She pulled back, smiling up at him. "I do feel bad though," she admitted.

"About what?"

"I really wanted to have dinner waiting on you tonight. I figured since I was doing the stay at home Mom thing that I could at least try and order takeout."

He shook his head. "You're perfect. You're here waiting for me and that's more than enough. Besides," he gestured towards the kitchen. "I picked up dinner already and bonus … it reheats well."

She laughed as she felt his fingertips toying with the hem of her shirt. "I guess it would be a shame to waste this opportunity. Charlotte doesn't sleep much."

His fingertips trailed through her hair as he drew a deep breath and fought to quell the heat that raged through him. "Yeah," he heaved, "I know you're exhausted. If you want to just go upstairs and rest, it's okay. I mean …"

"Do I look exhausted?" She blinked at him, the flirty smile that always brought him to his knees playing on her face.

"No," he grinned, his hands resuming their original position. "Lack of sleep looks really, really good on you."

"Well then, let's not ruin a good thing." She leaned back, letting his body loom over hers as they stretched out over the sofa. Things were different now. The wine bottles that had once scattered the kitchen were now replaced with baby bottles and sterilizers. The throws that once covered the furniture and, all too often, their bare bodies when the bedroom was just too far had now been folded and placed in the ottoman, with bibs and burp clothes now taking their place, but some things, like the way he loved her, the way he touched her, and the way he made her feel - never did.


	9. Chapter 9 Grounded

Billy straightened his scarf as he headed towards the elevator. The quick flash of Ted's shadow startled him, his presence this late in the office was surprising. "Hey Ted," he said cheerfully, "Crazy day?"

Ted looked up briefly, his eyes downcast. "It's uh … I've had better," he mumbled. The look on his face wasn't one that normally accustomed hectic office frenzy. This was the look of someone who'd been chewed up and spit out.

"Uh oh." He reached out his hand, clapping his shoulder supportively. "Let me guess. Did you anger the boss? Don't worry. Her bark is a lot worse than her bite. You'll get used to it. She rants and raves, but she'll calm down. Tomorrow morning she'll show up with your favorite breakfast food and an apology."

"I don't think so. She's got a lot on her mind. I get it, but I really did do the best I could." Ted looked down as he waited for the elevator doors to open. "But you can't change the weather and …"

Billy stilled. "What's going on? What's she so wound up about." He sensed the hesitation in Ted's movements, his reluctance to say anything to anyone for fear he might experience more of Phyllis' wrath. "You know what," he said softly. "Never mind. Don't worry about it. I'll go see if there's anything I can do." For a moment he'd swear he saw a warning, if not a spark of compassion in Ted's eyes. "I've got this he smiled."

He'd been on the receiving end of Phyllis' fury many times, most of them, if he was honest with himself, were well deserved. He could surely handle whatever snit this was – especially when he was almost certain he couldn't be blamed for this particular set of unsavory circumstances. "Just head on home," he said to Ted with a wave of his hand, "Enjoy your weekend. I'll take care of things here."

* * *

He could hear the sound of her raised voice as he neared the door.

"You mean to tell me there's not a single pilot in the area willing to fly a private plane tonight?" Her voice shook in anger and desperation. "Money isn't an issue. I'll pay whatever you need. I've got a private aircraft. I just need an airstrip and a pilot. That's all." She waited, then sighed. "And there's not a commercial flight leaving either." Another pause. "You have got to be kidding me! They don't teach you people how to fly in snow!?" She slammed her hand down onto the desk. "Right!" she screamed, "Thanks for nothing!"

Billy pushed the door open slowly, the sight of her face causing him to stand back before he approached her. This wasn't a typical, run of the mill, annoyance. This was something far more sinister. "Phyllis." His voice was tentative as he took slow steps toward the desk. "Everything okay?"

She looked up, the sight of him a total surprise. She'd completely lost it on Ted, when he'd told her he'd been unable to book the jet for a last minute flight. His weather excuse had fallen on deaf ears and she'd ranted and raved as he'd promised her she'd have no more luck than he had if she tried to find a commercial flight. Now that he'd been proven right, her worry and rage was compounded by her guilt. He hadn't deserved the way she'd spoken to him, but she didn't deserve this either – and neither did her son.

"Billy." Her voice cracked at the sight of him. Her logical, professional self had become rather astute at compartmentalizing everything. She'd worked hard to keep the anger and hurt separate from her professional relationship with him. It was important that their working relationship continued to thrive even if she wasn't certain if she'd ever be able to forgive the wrongs that occurred during their relationship. But now, all those walls and boundaries seemed to fall and she simply wanted to remember what it was like to let him fix it, to let him make it better. Billy had always been that place for her, the person she'd run to when she needed somewhere safe, somewhere sheltered, when she'd needed someone that understood her – even the parts of her she didn't always want to show.

It was even more obvious now, as she looked at him with the eyes he'd seen so many times, the ones that showed the depth of her suffering. Something had gone horribly wrong. He felt the dread welling up within him already as he stepped even closer to her desk. "What's going on? I could hear you all the way outside and Ted was …"

Her eyes fluttered closed. "It wasn't his fault," she whispered. Her eyes were already beginning to burn. She hated crying but somehow, when she was with Billy, she did it easier and more often than she did with anyone else. She struggled to come up with the words, the thoughts and fears jumbling up in her mind as she looked into his face.

He reached across the desk and touched her arm gently, the contact evoking a visceral response. "Tell me," he said softly.

"It's Daniel," she whispered. "He's been in a car accident. He was on the way home from work and a guy came over into his lane and hit him head on." Her voice cracked again as she recounted the words in horrifying detail. She could still hear Heather's almost numb voice on the phone as she'd spoken to her. It was obvious that she was trying to be strong and that fact scared her even more.

"My God," Billy breathed. He was behind the desk with his arms wrapped around her before she realized it.

Her body fell against his, desperate to fell that connection, that support, that kind of compassion. "He's alive," she managed, "but they're taking him into surgery and I need to be there." She pulled away and looked into his eyes again. "He's my son, Billy and if …"

She could feel his hand clasping around hers as he helped her around her desk and walked her towards the sofa. The phone was still held tightly in her hand as she stared up at him. "I don't know what to do, Billy. There's a snowstorm coming in and all the flights are grounded. The pilot won't even fly the jet and …"

"Okay. Okay." He stroked her hand gently. "I know you want to be there for your son. I get that, but it's not safe to fly in weather like this. Daniel is getting the best care possible. I'm sure of it and Heather is there for him, but you getting yourself killed isn't going to do anyone any good."

"So what am I suppose to do? Just sit here and wait … wait to hear from my daughter in law that my son has …."

"He's gonna be fine, Phyllis. He's got a lot to live for and he's your son. He's stubborn as hell. It's in his blood."

"I'm so scared, Billy. I'm so scared I'm going to lose him. I have to get to him. I have to be there." She stared down at her phone. "Maybe I can get a car or …" She moved to stand but felt his hands gripping her waist.

"Hey. You can't. It's … If I, If I let you go out there and something happened, how do you think I'd feel about that?" He watched the look on her face as he felt her body relax and return to sit back down on the sofa beside him.

The desperation and obvious helplessness seemed poised to overwhelm her. "What you need to do is try to calm down and take care of yourself so that when Daniel is better, you can be there to take care of him and help him out with Lucy and whatever else he needs."

"You think I can do that? You honestly think I can do that right now? My son could be dying and you want me to what? Meditate? Do a little light yoga? You want me to pretend that everything's okay? Summer and I … our relationship is …" She stopped, not wanting to discuss anything relating to Summer with him. "And now she's in Dubai and Daniel is in Georgia and I always said I should talk to him more and visit more, but I didn't and now …"

She was falling apart, right before his eyes. This wasn't the time for carefully chosen words or cheerful pronouncements that everything would be okay. All he could do to comfort her was to wrap his arms around, to pull her closer to him and let her know that there was someone that would always be there to catch her. He needed to hold her now as much as she needed to be held.

* * *

"So needless to say, neither of us got our badges that day." He felt her body shake a bit with soft laughter as he craned to see her face. He'd been working overtime to come up with trivial, silly stories to tell her … anything to keep her mind off Daniel and what could be happening ours away from her in a state she couldn't get to in a situation she couldn't help.

"At least you call kept your fingers and toes," she smiled. "How long did they keep you two in the hospital?"

"Not too long, just long enough to warm us up and make sure that none of our extremities were turning black." He grinned as he saw the small smile play across her face.

"So did you ever try again for the badge?"

"Nah," he scoffed. "I was an Eagle Scout dropout. Most of my boarding school buddies were more interested in the country club golf and polo scene anyway, so it was no big loss."

"Just golf and polo, huh? No other extra curricular activities?"

"Phyllis Summers." He leaned back as he saw her more relaxed face. "I'm actually offended. I was a young man and pure as the driven snow."

"Right," she scoffed. Her relaxed expression stopped suddenly as her cell phone sounded. The slight smile immediately faded, replaced by worried eyes and a tense jaw. "Hello," she breathed, her entire body now on edge.

She felt his warm hand against the small of her back, his touch the singular thing that kept her from screaming. "Yeah, Heather, I'm here. I'm sorry. The weather is awful, and I can't get a flight out for anything. I've been trying, but …" She stopped, listening to the quickly spoken words on the other side of the line.

Billy waited anxiously as he watched her react. The feeling of her back rising and falling gave him some hope, but her words finally filled him with relief.

"Oh thank God," she breathed, her body leaning back against the sofa as she glanced towards Billy and squeezed his hand. "And you're sure? They said he's gonna be okay?" Tears streamed down her face as she heard the words again. "Thank you, Heather. Thank you for calling and for being there with him and for all of it. Please let him know that I love him and that I'll get the first flight I can to see him. Okay. As soon as he's able, let me know. I want to hear his voice myself."

She'd barely let the phone slide from her hand before she was in his arms again. "He's gonna be okay," she muttered between strangled sobs. "He's really gonna be okay."

"I'm so glad." He whispered the words into her ear as he gently stroked her back. "What did she say? How long will it be before he'll be able to talk to you?"

"He's still in recovery right now, but she said they're hoping to be able to move him to a room tomorrow."

Billy nodded. "The weather should be clearing up by tomorrow night or Sunday at the latest. And then, if you want, I can fly out with you so you don't have to make the trip by yourself."

"Thank you," she said softly. "And not just for that … for all of this, for staying here with me and keeping me distracted with all your stories so that I wouldn't drive myself crazy worrying about Daniel or try to single handedly pilot a plane to Georgia."

He smiled back at her. "Was I that obvious?"

"Well." She shook her head. "Kind of, but it's still pretty wonderful especially considering that you didn't have to do any of that. I mean I'm certainly not your problem anymore and …"

"You're not a problem. You've never been a problem."

"Okay, well. I mean we're not … I'm not someone that you have to worry about anymore."

"I'll always worry about you. I'll always care about you." His words were honest and he didn't even try to stop them. Things like this had a way of making you stop and think, a way of forcing you to get out of your own way and realizing what was most important. "I'll always love you, Phyllis – no matter how many stupid things I say, no matter how many stupid things I do, no matter how you feel or think about me. It doesn't matter. The way I feel about you isn't going to change. If you remember, I told you that once and it's still true."

"Of course I remember." She could see it now, what she'd seen nearly three years ago. It had drawn her to him then and it still made her feel inextricably connected to him. It was a pull. He understood her in a way no one else could. "And I don't think anyone else could have gotten me through this night. You've always understood me. You've always seen me. Always …"

"You're my favorite thing to see," he smiled. "I've missed seeing you. I want to see you more. I want to show you that I still understand you and that I understand what I did and what I need to do to show you that I'll never hurt you like that again. If you'll take a chance on me and let me do that …"

Life was short and nothing could illustrate that more than a night like the one they'd just experienced. Were there risks in trusting him again? Yes. Could he hurt her? Of course. But he could also hold her, comfort her, and keep her sane when she was hurtling towards a frenzied madness that no one else could possibly understand. "I think I can do that," she whispered. "Because I love you too, Billy and if I was ever gonna take a chance on anybody, it would be you."

The End


	10. The Source

"Alright. Alright. I'm here. What's so important that I had to drop everything?" Billy huffed as he sat down at the table and stared at Kyle. "I had a lot of work to do today and for the record, so do you."

Kyle smiled. A sensible man would be worried at Billy's obvious annoyance with him, but he knew better. He knew the reason behind his good mood – his ace in the hole. "This is better than work … trust me."

"We don't have the luxury of better than work right now, Kyle. With Phyllis behind that desk, she's just looking for a reason to tell both of us to …"

"Maybe she won't be behind that desk that much longer …"

Billy stopped short, his eyes suddenly piquing with interest. "What?" He leaned forward, looking around the room before speaking again. "What are you talking about? Did you find out something?"

"Not really. It's not so much something I found as …"

"Kyle …" The frustration in his voice was obvious now and he slammed his hand on the table hard. The sound was louder than he intended, it's clatter attracting the attention of the people closest to them. "Sorry," Billy muttered smiling politely at the older couple that sat nearest to them. He forced a calming breath into his body and gritted his teeth. "I don't have time for your games right now. What did you do?"

Kyle slid the tablet across the table, letting his fingertip quickly touch the screen. "That's why I needed you to get here so fast," he grinned proudly. "I wanted you to see it live."

Billy glanced down at the screen, his face turning more serious as he saw Mariah appear. An instant rush of concern washed over him. He and Kyle had been talking about getting Phyllis out of the CEO position for weeks now, but they hadn't talked specifics, certainly nothing that would require any sort of public announcement … Kyle was young and impulsive and … His stomach sank as the image appeared on the screen. "My God, Kyle." He swallowed hard before lifting his eyes to stare at him. "What the hell did you do?"

* * *

Kyle stumbled as he struggled to follow Billy towards the corner by the stairs. "I gotta say, this isn't exactly the 'Thanks, Kyle' I was expecting."

Billy let go of his arm and glared at him. "Really? You expected me to thank you for this." He shook the tablet in front of his face. "How do you think Phyllis is gonna react to being humiliated on television like that? Furthermore, how do you think our investors are gonna appreciate the CEO of Jabot being put on blast like that?"

"Maybe the CEO of Jabot should have chosen a more discreet location for her rendezvous with Nick Newman," Kyle shrugged. "It's not like I was some peeping Tom. They were in the middle of his office. He could at least get some of those closing curtains like the ones in her office. The glass doors really aren't gonna cut it with that kind of after hours work." He smiled again, amusing himself. "Seriously … you could at least show a little appreciation for the level of initiative I showed here. You were the one that wanted me to keep things above board and I did. I didn't plant any evidence. Nothing about this was set up. I just waited and watched and let her make her own bed … so to speak. Oddly enough if she had kept this confined to her a bed, we wouldn't really be having this conversation …"

"Would you just shut up," Billy hissed as he let the table fall by his side. "This isn't a joke, Kyle! This could really mess things up for her … I mean for Jabot. This kind of scandal doesn't just impact her job. It's going to cause our customers to think poorly of the entire leadership team."

"And is that what this is really about? You're worried about how our customers are gonna feel about the company? About the choices we're making? You're worried about how our investors are gonna feel about the culture of our organization? That's what you're trying to sell here? Because it seems to me that what you're really upset about is what you see in those pictures. Phyllis isn't spending her nights chained to the desk, buried under files and figures … she's spending a whole lot more time underneath …"

He stopped as he felt Billy's hands grab his collar and then let him go just as quickly. "Never mind," he breathed. "I think that's a good enough answer."

"I'm not upset about …" His entire body was on edge. Everything in him was screaming and yet he couldn't let on, not in front of Kyle, not in front of anyone. As much as he wanted to pretend it didn't bother him, God help him, it did. "Phyllis can do whatever she wants, with whoever she wants. I don't have any hold on her anymore just like she doesn't have any hold on me. I just don't think it was a good idea to do this right now. She's gonna be pissed and when Phyllis is pissed she lashes out. We don't need her particular brand of vengeance especially when we're at a very clear disadvantage. I know her style and when …" He stopped as he heard the sound of his phone chiming. His eyes darkened as he saw the familiar name flash across the screen. "Speaking of …"

"Hello." Dread washed over him as he said the word. Normally the sight of her name would fill him with a momentary rush of hope, but this time he had a pretty good idea of what the phone call would entail. She had seen or heard about Mariah's broadcast and she no doubt thought he was behind it.

"Billy." Her voice was like ice and venom all rolled into one. "My office. Now." There was no further conversation. No question. No hesitation. The call ended as abruptly as it had begun.

He let the phone slip back into his pocket as he looked back into Kyle's waiting face. "I've been summoned," he said quietly.

"I'll tell her it was me," Kyle offered. "What's she gonna do? Fire us?"

"Oh, I doubt it. That would be too easy. If she fired us, she wouldn't have us around to torture."

* * *

"You rang?" Billy stepped into the office, bracing his body as much as possible for the eventual onslaught. "Is there a problem?"

"Close the door." Her eyes were full of rage as she stood up from the desk. He could see her entire body seething as she waited to hear the sound of the door close behind him. "You know damn well what the problem is, Billy! Is this your idea of payback?"

"Phyllis … If you'll just let me …"

"Let you what?" She walked back over towards the desk and turned the computer monitor forward, the image of Nick on top of her frozen on the screen. "Let you explain how this was gonna help you get back in this chair? How this was gonna help Jabot? How this was gonna help anything?!"

"I know how it looks. I know what you're probably thinking, but …"

"If you think I'm thinking that you are completely and totally shortsighted, that you're so consumed with your own needs and desires that you would never, ever be capable of considering the best interests of a company like this … then yeah, you're right … you do know exactly what I'm thinking!"

"Don't pretend your motives have always been pure, Phyllis. It isn't like everything you've done here has been all Jabot, all the time. You and I both know that a lot of the decisions you've made have been more about sticking it to me than the company line. Even that moment right there …" He paused and pointed at the screen. "You gonna try and tell me that isn't about me?"

"What I do with Nick has absolutely nothing to do with you!"

"It has everything to do with me. You're trying to prove that you're not pining over me and the best way to do that is to go and throw yourself at Nick. And he's all too willing to oblige because he's trying to do the same damn thing with Sharon. What I can't understand is how you managed to get here so damn fast. You claimed you loved me. You claimed you were 100% in my corner and on my side. I know I did some things … some things that I shouldn't have done … I know I crossed some lines, but I hadn't slept with Summer when you first slept with Nick."

"No. At that time, you were only gambling and lying to me about it. You had only put our relationship on the back burner tor everything else multiple times and you were doing it again."

"Oh I did that?" He glared at her incredulously. "Because you were the one that became completely obsessed with Nick and Chelsea. You were the one that kept information about Jack's plan to ruin Brash and Sassy from me and it was you that cheated first. You slept with Nick. You set all of this in motion. You did."

"Do you really want to start comparing sins, Billy?"

He huffed. "Alright. Fair point. I won that round. I slept with Summer. That was the death blow to us. You're right. I did the end all be all worst thing ever, but you didn't even know about that when you completely gave up on me, when you sat back and let them take the CEO position away from me while I was at rehab trying to get my life back together. Even as I walked away from you, you promised me that you wouldn't give up on us. You promised me that you'd fight for us with everything you had, but it only took what? A day, two days for you decide it wasn't even worth fighting for me with a board vote?"

"You don't know what the hell you're talking about."

"I know I walked out of this town with nothing and yeah, a lot of that was my fault. I left you. I slept with Summer. I was intent on burning it all to the ground, but when I came back, I had nothing to come back to. I find out that everyone was perfectly content to just forget everything I brought to this company. Did I make mistakes? Yeah. Did I put the company at risk? Yeah. But everyone else has too. And I deserved a little bit of credit. I deserved the chance to pull it all back."

"I gave you chances, Billy. I fought for you. I fought for us. But you weren't interested. You were hellbent on causing me as much pain as I caused you. And you know what? I didn't even blame you for that. I understand wanting me to hurt. I know I hurt you and I'm sorry, but what you did with Summer was beyond anything I would have ever done or even thought about doing. And now … my God … isn't it enough? Haven't you done enough? You slept with my daughter, Billy and now this?"

"This wasn't about humiliating you or hurting you … this was …"

"I'm not humiliated. There's nothing wrong with what I'm doing. Nick and I are single, consenting adults that can do what we want with who we want."

"Except you're the CEO of a corporation that relies on its reputation and its corporate culture for its success. When customers see the CEO on the news flat on their back with …"

"So that's what your game is? You're just trying to get me ousted? You want the board to see me as a liability and vote me out? And then what? You think they'll vote you in? You think they'll see how smart and resourceful you were with your smear campaign here and reward you by putting you back at the helm?"

"I didn't say that and I didn't do this. I wasn't the one …"

"I know that, okay! I know that you weren't the one that cheated first, Billy! You're said that a million times. You don't need to say it again. I get it. I screwed up here. I made the first mistake. It was me. But you don't know everything. You're so sure that I just gave up on you. You're so sure that I didn't fight to keep for you. Why don't you ask your family how that board vote went? Why don't you ask them what the final vote was?"

He opened his mouth to speak, but she was already storming out of her own office.

Phyllis stood outside the door, her chest heaving in indignation and the threat of tears. He should have been the one to leave, but it didn't matter, she couldn't stand it any longer. She could stand and stare at him and not fall apart. Her breath caught as Kyle stepped up to her.

"I don't have anything to say to you right now," she spat. "Get out of my sight."

"Wait. Phyllis, just listen. I know you're angry, but don't blame Billy for this, please. If you want to fire me, fire me, but Billy didn't know about this one. He didn't have any idea what I was doing until it was already done and he's already given me hell for it, so if you want to pile it on, go ahead. I know I shouldn't have taken the photos and I know turning them in to Mariah was a low blow and it was counter productive for Jabot and …."

"Just stop."

He did.

"I don't want to hear it. I just don't want to hear it." She walked away, her own mind reeling. This was more than even she could handle. Billy hadn't been the one to take the pictures. In this instance, he hadn't tried to hurt her in this way, but in so many other instances, the pain was still very real.

Kyle watched silently as she slowly walked away. The sound of footsteps startled him and he looked up, surprised to see Billy in one piece. "You look far better than I expected coming out of there," Kyle sighed.

"Well looks can be deceiving," Billy muttered. "She's angry and probably off plotting her master plan of revenge now." He paused a moment as Kyle turned to leave. "Wait a minute."

Kyle stopped and turned back towards him. "Yeah?"

"I want to ask you something. You remember the board vote, while I was in rehab. The one where you all had to decide who was going to serve as CEO while I was gone? It was when the Blood Abbott clause was still in play, so it had to be Tracey and there was a vote. I was talking to Phyllis and she made this weird comment about how I should ask someone how the vote went … Do you know? Everyone voted for Tracey, right?"

"Not everyone." Kyle looked up at him, already knowing where this answer would lead. "You did get one vote. Phyllis voted for you." He waited for only a moment before walking away. That kind of revelation wasn't one you revealed and then sat around to discuss.

It was as if the words echoed throughout his mind as he watched Kyle disappear down the hallway. The things he'd said to her and yet she'd never once told him this …. Perhaps now it didn't matter … after everything else was said and done. Their choices had been made.

The soft click of her heels on the tile floor broke the silence and he looked as she neared her office door. "What are you still doing here?" she asked as she eyed him warily.

"I don't know," he answered honestly. "I guess maybe I was thinking we hadn't finished our conversation."

"Haven't we? Is there anything else to say?"

"I think so. At least I hope so. I'd hate to leave it like this … after everything we've been through together."

She stopped and studied him. "I thought you said it didn't matter. That's what you said at the house that day. You said that everything we'd gone through together didn't matter anymore."

"I was angry. I was upset. I was wrong."

"And then you …" She couldn't even finish, the knowledge of what he'd done being plenty painful without ever saying the words.

"I was wrong then too. Really wrong. In fact wrong seems like a really weak word for what it was. I was just so hurt that I couldn't think about what it would really do to everyone involved. I just wanted to lash out and …"

"You definitely did that."

"I know. Now I just want to try and make it better even if I can't ever make it right again. You know?"

She nodded. "I know. So you want to finish that talk now?" She walked towards the door and gently pushed it open, hanging by the doorway for a moment as she waited for his response.

"Yeah," he smiled, cautiously. "Let's do that."


End file.
